Changing In Hallway

[dublinjohn]

I remember reading that the first series of Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars in the US) the pro's had to change in corridors, they didn't get changing rooms until series two, this was from an interview with one of the female pro's, according to my memory the girls all stripped down to tiny tongs and the guys had the crotch support built into their trousers so had to get it all off.

Could have been lie's but that was the interview

[CinnabarSunset]

This is a real thing and I've personally seen it. Back in the late 80s, my daughter twirled baton and was on a twirl team that went to these types of contests. The attendance at these events was normally about 90-95% females. I often felt uncomfortable about attending because the entire time I was surrounded by young girls running around in outfits their mothers would've never approved of otherwise. Depending on the type of routine and music, some were very risque. I remember once at a competition walking out into the hallway to go to the concession stand and stumbling right into a group of 10-15 girls ranging in age from 9 to maybe 13 or 14, all changing into their outfits right out in the open. Some of the girls were down to their panties. Two girls were naked from the waist up. I felt like a total pervert for looking--but I did--and the girls and their parents seemed completely unconcerned. Over the three or four years we were involved in the sport, this happened to me several more times. Crazy but true.

I first misread your name as "Crazy Alien", which was a good description of how this all sounds to me!

Did you feel uncomfortable about any of the outfits your daughter wore as a twirler? Do you know whether her group ever changed out in the open like that?

If it only happened with girls around age 9, then I'd be able to understand and think of it as not a big deal. But once they're 12, 13, 14... that's more than just pushing the boundaries. Or, at least, it steps clearly outside the boundaries that were in place where I've lived. I wonder how much of this comes from cultural difference between locations, and how much comes from a pragmatic attitude that they need to get changed one way or another.

Considering that you also think of it as crazy, I assume it's at least partially the latter. Maybe the most surprising part to me is that nobody seemed at all perturbed about people looking. Honestly, I'd have expected there to be at least one parent who gives the stink eye to anyone who looks in their direction, as if passing observers were to blame for the lack of privacy.

[Rosey]

I did gymnastics at the county level for a few years and while it didn't bother me at the time (nudist of course) parents including fathers would always be milling around while we were getting changed. We'd be all ages getting changed and it would be quite chaotic. They would definitely see lots of us nude or semi nude, that's not to mention how skimpy some of the leotards were.

This was the UK in the early to mid Nineties.

I think it was partly innocence the same as people allowing cameras with no restrictions at nudist camps.

[Ollina]